1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication control method, a communication apparatus, and a communication system. In particular, the present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a communication system, and a communication control method employed in a communication interface coupling apparatus that includes a primary communication interface and a plurality of relay communication interfaces and which transfers a transmission/reception frame of the primary communication interface (i.e., a frame received and transmitted by the primary communication interface) through one of the plurality of relay communication interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, use of information providing services built on wide area networks typified by the Internet has become widespread, and download of large-size data files, delivery of video streams, and so on have become common. In addition, building a network system such as a local area network (LAN) in homes has become common, in which data communication is performed between devices, such as a television receiver and audio equipment, having a data communication function.
In the case where such a network system is built in the home using a wired network, such as an Ethernet (registered brand) network, it is necessary to connect the devices to each other using a data communication cable, that is, a trouble of wiring exists, and it is necessary to take measures to hide the cable to make the home look pleasing.
As such, it has become common to build a wireless network system using an IEEE 802.11-compliant wireless communication system or the like, for example.
Power line communication (PLC) is also known as a technology for building a network in a building. In the power line communication, devices that are supplied with power via a power line and which have a communication capability to communicate with each other via the power line by superimposing a communication signal upon the power line.
While wired LANS typified by the Ethernet (registered brand) LANS offer a transmission rate of more than 100 Mbps, the construction of the wired LANS in the homes is not so widespread as in offices. As a substitute, use of wireless LANS, power line communication LANS, and the like, which are easy to construct, has been becoming widespread. However, the wireless LANS, power line communication LANS, and the like have a drawback such as unstable communication quality compared to the wired networks, and still have many problems to be solved to accomplish stable, high-quality transmission of a large amount of data.
IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation or the like has standardized a technology of virtually grouping a plurality of physical interfaces as one logical link to increase the bandwidth in order to achieve high-capacity and high-quality transmission with easy implementation. In connection with this technology, several methods have been devised for determining a path, i.e., one of the plurality of physical interfaces, to which data should be transmitted, in order to secure higher communication quality.
JP-A-2007-60494 and JP-T-2007-527170 disclose methods for determining the path to which the data should be transmitted, as related-art techniques.